NASA's Glory spacecraft is scheduled for launch on Friday, March 4. Technical issues with ground support equipment for the Taurus XL launch vehicle led to the scrub of the original Feb. 23 launch attempt. Those issues have been resolved. The liftoff from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is targeted for 5:09:43 a.m. EST, in the middle of a 48-second launch window. Spacecraft separation occurs 13 minutes after launch. Coverage of the countdown on the Glory launch blog and on NASA TV will begin on launch day at 3:30 a.m. EST. Data from the Glory mission will allow scientists to better understand how the sun and tiny atmospheric particles called aerosols affect Earth's climate.
Both aerosols and solar energy influence the planet's energy budget the amount of energy entering and exiting Earth's atmosphere. An accurate measurement of these impacts is important in order to anticipate future changes to our climate and how they may affect human life. Project management for Glory is the responsibility of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. The launch management for the mission is the responsibility of NASA's Launch Services Program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., is the launch service provider to Kennedy of the four-stage Taurus XL rocket and is also builder of the Glory satellite for Goddard.
Engineers and technicians at Vandenberg Air Force base, Calif., are preparing the Earth observing satellite Glory for launch on Feb. 23. In orbit, the satellite's two science instruments will study key aspects of the climate that will help make it possible to produce more accurate global and regional climate models. Last week, a team from Orbital Sciences Corporation stowed the Glory spacecraft in a protective nose cone called the payload fairing. The payload fairing, a two-pieced and bullet-shaped part, will shield Glory from the intense aerodynamic pressures and heating that Glory's launch vehicle will encounter during its ascent.
After the successful completion of these encapsulation operations, Glory was transported to an outdoor processing tent near the launch pad. Following its arrival, engineers attached the satellite and payload fairing to the third stage of a Taurus XL, the four-stage, solid-fuel launch vehicle that will propel Glory into orbit. At first glance, the Glory spacecraft might look unassuming. At 1.9 meters (6.2 feet) by 1.4 meters (4.6 feet), Glory is neither the largest nor the heaviest of NASA’s Earth-observing satellites. The whole of the Glory spacecraft which is set to launch from Vandenberg on Feb. 23 at 2:09 a.m. Pacific Standard Time (PST) is not much taller than most people or wider than an oil barrel. It weighs about 528 kilograms (1,164 pounds), about half the weight of a vintage Volkswagen Beetle.
Despite its small size, Glory will deploy an innovative aerosol sensing instrument called the Aerosol Polarimetry Sensor (APS) that many specialists predict will produce dramatic improvements in measuring airborne particles, as well as an important sensor that will help maintain a 32-year record of the sun's irradiance. And, in Glory's case, the value of the mission exceeds that of its parts because the spacecraft will fly in formation with a group of other Earth observing satellites known as the A-Train. For most people, "A-Train" likely conjures up visions of jazz legend Billy Strayhorn or perhaps New York City subway trains rather than climate science, but the little-known convoy of satellites has emerged as a critical tool for climatologists.
The Glory spacecraft and its Taurus XL launch vehicle are coming together at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California as NASA gets ready to launch its first Launch Services Program mission of 2011. Researchers are looking for more puzzle pieces to fill out the picture of Earth's climate and Glory was designed to give them the pieces relating to the role tiny particles known as aerosols play in the planet's weather. The spacecraft, about the size of a refrigerator, is also equipped with an instrument to measure the sun's impact on Earth's conditions. Glory is to lift off Feb. 23 at 5:09 a.m. EST. "The Glory satellite will help us understand the interaction of what's called aerosols in our environment," said Chuong Nguyen, LSP's mission integration manager for Glory.
The particles Glory will measure are small enough to float in the atmosphere and affect weather conditions by either absorbing sunlight or reflecting it. The particles can also affect rain patterns by seeding clouds and have other effects. The Glory mission is to also find out how long-lasting the effects for aerosols and how far their effects reach. The effects of some aerosols are limited to those parts of the world that generate them. For example, cities in developing nations often produce the most "black carbon," or soot, and it is in those areas that the effects are seen most dramatically, sometimes even in the form of health problems. However, other aerosols including dust from the Sahara desert, reach high enough into the air that they are transported across the oceans. In the case of the Sahara, its dust has been seen in the Caribbean.
While the spacecraft will get due attention, many eyes also will be on the Taurus XL rocket that will lift Glory. The four-stage, solid-fueled rocket was last used in February 2009 to launch the Orbiting Carbon Observatory. However, the payload fairing protecting the spacecraft during the early part of launch did not separate and the spacecraft never reached orbit. "Glory is going to do some fantastic stuff as far as mapping out aerosols in the atmosphere, but it's also a groundbreaker in that this is the first flight after a failure of the Taurus XL vehicle," said Omar Baez, launch director for the Glory mission. "So we're excited to be doing this and Glory just happens to be the science that we're taking up with us this time." Compared with other rockets that have launched many hundreds of times, the Taurus XL is quite young and Baez said the trouble with the last launch is part of any new system's growing pains.
